St. Paul daily globe., 1887-03-14
Tips From One Who Knows Regarding
Mining Speculation on in the
Black Hills.
A PrOspector Who Sold a Quarter Interest
In Ledge of Rock For
$25
To Get None, For Grub After Having
Loudly Demanded $4,000
For His Holding.
The Old Timers in the Hills Inclined
to be Jealous of the New
corners.

spring the Black Hills fancy llgntly turns
to thoughts of ''booms;" of the inrush of
those heavenly visitors whom 'Dutch
Fred' calls. Eastern cobbidalists;" of
rapid sales of town lots and mining claims:
of all the pride, pomp and circumstance of
glorious fortune. 1t is interesting to hear
men and newspapers initiate their hopes.
Lifting ones self by the boot straps was
some time a chestnut paradox, but the time
gives it daily proof in the ease with which
men figure themselves to the top of Fort
une's bicycle. Hope deferred does not
even make the heart reich in the Hills; and
that faith which is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of. things not seen,
finds its highest eXemplars among the Mi
cawberS and TapleyS of this rartied region.
could fill these letters with particulars,
as of accomplished facts, of operations that
exist only in the imaginationS of the en-
thusiastic schemers.
DOUBLE RESOURCES.
All this comes of the double phenomena
of physical and human nature; of the
boundlesS resources OF the country aud its
people reacting on each other. These Hills
are 1illed with men who come here to make
their fortunes. and who see in the country's
minerals. ranches, range and timber
''potentiality Of wealth beyond the dreams
of 'avarice." as DR.. Sam johnson said OF
Thrale'S beer business. These men came
to make their fortunes out of these ''poten-
tialities,'' and they want to make it now.
right away: they see the potentialities, and
the dreams of avarice intlame Imagination
and sustain hope. The owners Of claims
also know that said potentiality is immov-
ably locked up until other acquired wealth
| comes in to relieve it; there are millions OF
fish in the sea, but what if man has no
! fiSh-hook? Hence the constant Straining OF
eyes Eastward for the coming OF the capi-
taliSts like modern wise men from the East.
And when they come the prospector con-
suits his dreams for a standard Of
values.
GREED VS.. GUMPTION.
The reception accorded to the capitalist
when he comes varies according to the re-
lations that exist between the greed and the
sagacity of the individual would be seller.
II the former predominant in the claim
owner he will demand price equal to all
that he imagines his mine can ever pro-
duce. If he have some business sagacity,
he will accord cO-capital the share it usually
can command in partnership with original
invention, to-wit the lions; he will con-
cede enough of the potentiality to tempt cap
ital to the risk of developing unproductiye,
untested resources.
STANDARDS OF VALUE.
I have heard mai. iemand $4,000 for
a ledge of rocks with a streak Of tin ore in
it and resent as an insult the proposition
that he would be glad to take half the sum
''spot cash." and have known him the
same day to give a quarter interest in it for
S25 grub stake" and be glad to get ir.
The one transaction was dictated by greed,
the other by business considerations. The
claim had cost him nothing. but the trouble
of driving half dozen stakes and posting
| notice, SO he was $50 ahead and ''Still
lived" A Dutchman i'll the district re-
| fused $40, 900 for claim saying: Ten
tousand dollar Vot is ten tousand dollar?
Noiings | shpend him IN veekw He
propaby never owned ten thousand cents
at one time in his life.
WHO GET THE PROCEEDS.
These hills abound with men who have
for years been sitting Oil claims waiting for
purchasers. dozen of whom have been
driven away by prices based on the dreams
Of avarce" rather than the possibilities of
develOdment; and in many cases the distri-
button Of proceeds of sales has disclosed
| the fact that the most of the property has
already passed into the hands of others
than the discovererS for trif1ng conSidera-
tions, or no considerations at ALL In truth
it is the antecedent generosity, impecuni-
osity and improvdeEce of the proSpector
that often impels him to demand large
prices. OF the $24, 600 paid for the Tin
Reef mines only about one-fourth remained
to the diScoverer. The proceeds Of the
Neil purchase were still more uneouallv
distributed, one lawyer in Rapid City get
ting $500, another 81, 100 of it. while two
parties who had put up $25 apiece for the
: | pOt NWn mn
who had refused to bond mine near Dead
wood for $50, 600 III burst Of confidence
and generosity decided third interest in it
to a "ruStler'' who they believed could help
them to sell.
HOW TO "CATCH ON" IN THE HILLS.
/ The man who comes into the Hills with
, money to invest on short notice is likly tC
be asked prices based on those dreams OF
avarlce. The man who comes and stays
long enough to learn the country and the
people; to acquire confidence i'm the one anC
gain the confidence of the other. can 'sge
in on the ground floor" Miners like
square-dealing and open-handedness, ant
hate in about equal proportion sharper
and niggard. They are square and lib
eral themselves. you see. The moral o.
this, for the moneyed man, who wants some
of this potentiality of wealth, is to dea
, in properties and is capable of intelIigen
Z live-a and let live transactions. Concede tha
I. he is to make good thing for himself ant
his partners and look sharp that you maxi
-, a good thing for yourself and your partners
OLD TIMERS AND NEW COMERs.
l think one reason why some old timer
are so jealous of new corners who come to
stay is this very knowledge that the MAJ
who settles down here and watches hi
chances can often work into good thing
better than the old timer himself. SOM
times the latter has made record that in
y. terferes with brilliant successes in negotia
" tions with miners, and new men have con-
: siderable advantage in new connections an,
Y new resources outside. Some notable sue
t ceSSeS of new men III establishing them
: selves have not tended to lessen the teelin,
: that they were poaching on some one
preserves Of course, when speak of thi
i spirit | attribute it to only limited elias
5 of old residents; men of the same order O
n intelligence and business sagacty as is tn
S prospector who refuses $40, 600 cash an,
II sells fer S25 in ''grub and gin.'' The vas
8 majority of old residents in the hills wei
come all respectable comers and are no
afraid to take their chances with them al
in a country with the potentiality in sigh
IS to support 100000 population and max
v 10000 opulent. l must say that / do no
n believe that there is another community il
l this land that extends as hearty and unself
V ish hospitality, in society and business, a
i do these Hills towns-notably Deadwoo
and Rapid City. TwIcEHoP.
\ Freight Ovcrchar:cs.
/. Special to the Globe
DEs MONIES, Ia, March 13.-Gov. Lar
abee Yesterday mailed to President Potter